Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T03:43:37.110Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The technological community as a framework for educating for sustainability in business schools

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Suzanne Benn
Affiliation:
UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway, NSW, Australia
Cathy Rusinko
Affiliation:
School of Business Administration, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Abstract

This paper adapts and extends the technological community perspective (e.g., Van de Ven, 1993), to review and analyze the outcomes of a series of three research projects funded by the Australian Government as reported in a number of publicly available documents. The projects were designed to support education for sustainability within Australian business schools and to promote knowledge sharing between the business schools and industry around sustainability. Project participants included seven business schools and their industry collaborators.

The technological community perspective, which is particularly well-suited to examining this innovative education for sustainability project, is a theoretical framework that examines evolution of innovation at the community level; this includes multiple internal and external stakeholders, and is beyond the more traditional uni-dimensional focus on organization or industry levels. This approach provides lessons with respect to complex and dynamic interactions between and among multiple stakeholders responsible for successful development and dissemination of sustainability in business schools, corporations, and beyond.

Hence, this paper addresses issues raised in the call for papers for the special issue of Journal of Management and Organization, ‘Educating for Sustainability and CSR: What is the role of business schools?’ The paper addresses the questions: (1) What are the barriers for business schools with respect to integrating sustainability in the curricula; (2) What role do partnerships with other stakeholders play in such initiatives?

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aekerlof, G. A. (1970). The market for lemons: Quality, uncertainty and the market mechanism. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84, 488500.Google Scholar
Benn, S., & Dunphy, D. (2009). Action research as an approach to integrating sustainability into MBA programs: An exploratory study. Journal of Management Education, 33, 276295.Google Scholar
Benn, S., & Martin, A. (2010). Learning and change for sustainability reconsidered: A role for boundary objects. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 9(3), 397412.Google Scholar
Benn, S., & Perey, R. (2008). ARIES Stage 3 final report: Partnering corporations and business schools, education for and about sustainability in Australian Business Schools Stage 3. Sydney: UTS Business School (prepared for Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability [ARIES] and the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources; Sydney: ARIES).Google Scholar
Berringer, A., Wright, T., & Malone, L. (2008). Sustainability in higher education in Atlantic Canada. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9, 4867.Google Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia. (2009). Education for sustainability: The role of education in engaging and equipping people for change. Sydney: Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.Google Scholar
Constant, E. W. (1980). The origins of the turbojet revolution. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Constant, E. W. (1987). The social locus of technology practice. In Bijker, W. E., Hughes, T. P., & Pinch, T. (Eds.), The social construction of technological systems. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Corcoran, P. B., Wals, A. E. J., & Sterling, S. (2004). Higher education, sustainability, and the role of systemic learning. In Corcoran, P. B. & Wals, A. E. J. (Eds.), Higher education and the challenge of sustainability (pp. 4970). Dordrecht, NL: Springer.Google Scholar
Debackere, K., Clarysse, B., Wijnberg, N. M., & Rappa, M. A. (1994). Science and industry: A theory of networks and paradigms. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 6, 2137.Google Scholar
Dunphy, D., Griffiths, A., & Benn, S. (2003). Organisational change for corporate sustainability (1st ed.). New York, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Garud, R., & Van de Ven, A. H. (1989). Technological innovation and industry emergence: The case of cochlear implants. In Van de Ven, A. H., Angle, H., & Poole, M. S. (Eds.), Research on the management of innovations. New York: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Hunting, S. A., Mah, J., & Tilbury, D. (2006). Education about and for sustainability in Australian Business Schools: Embedding sustainability in MBA programs. Sydney: Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) prepared for ARIES and the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources.Google Scholar
Jennings, G., Cater, C., Hales, R., Hornby, R., & Kensbrok, S. (2008). Final project report, partnering corporations and business schools, education for and about sustainability in Australian Business Schools Stage 3, engendering and enhancing sustainability principles and practices for small tourism business enterprises. Nathan, QLD: Griffith Business School prepared for Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) and the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Sydney.Google Scholar
Lidgren, A., Hakan, R., & Huisingh, D. (2006). A systematic approach to incorporate sustainability into university courses and curricula. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14, 797809.Google Scholar
Lozano, R. (2006). Incorporation and institutionalization of SD into universities: Breaking through barriers to change. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14, 787796.10.1016/j.jclepro.2005.12.010Google Scholar
Rappa, M. A., & Debackere, K. (1992). Technological communities and the diffusion of knowledge. R & D Management, 22, 209220.Google Scholar
Reason, P., & Bradbury, H. (2006). Introduction: Inquiry and participation in search of a world worthy of human aspiration. In Reason, P. & Bradbury, H. (Eds.), Handbook of action research: The concise paperback edition (pp. 114). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Roome, N. (2005). Teaching sustainability in a global MBA: Insights from the OneMBA. Business Strategy and the Environment, 14, 160171.Google Scholar
Rowe, A., Novak, M., Thomas, G., & Naude, M. (2008). Final project report, partnering corporations and business schools, education for and about sustainability in Australian Business Schools Stage 3. Curtin, WA: Curtin Business School prepared for Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) and the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Sydney.Google Scholar
Rusinko, C. A. (2010). Integrating sustainability in management and business education: A matrix approach. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 9, 507519.Google Scholar
Rusinko, C. A., & Matthews, J. O. (1997). The evolution of a technological community: The case of financial derivatives. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 14, 315336.10.1016/S0923-4748(97)00014-3Google Scholar
Rusinko, C. A., & Sesok-Pizzini, D. A. (2003). Using a technological community framework to manage new medical technologies: The case of umbilical cord blood (UCB) banking. Journal of Health, Organisation and Management, 17, 399421.Google Scholar
Sammalisto, K., & Arvidsson, K. (2005). Environmental management in Swedish higher education: Directives, driving forces, hindrances, environmental aspects, and environmental coordinators in Swedish universities. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 6, 1835.Google Scholar
Sammalisto, K., & Lindhquist, T. (2008). Integration of sustainability in higher education: A study with international perspectives. Innovation in Higher Education, 32, 221233.Google Scholar
Scott, W., & Gough, S. (2006). Sustainable development within UK higher education: Revealing tendencies and tensions. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 30, 293305.Google Scholar
Segon, M. (2008). ARIES Stage 3 final report, partnering corporations and business schools, education for and about sustainability in Australian Business Schools Stage 3. Melbourne: RMIT University Graduate School of Business prepared for Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) and the Australian Government Department of the Environment and Water Resources, Sydney.Google Scholar
Shephard, K. (2008). Higher education for sustainability: Seeking affective learning outcomes. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 9(1), 8798.Google Scholar
Star, S. L., & Griesemer, J. R. (1989). Institutional ecology, ‘translations’ and boundary objects: Amatuers and professionals in Berkeley's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, 1907–39. Social Studies of Science, 19, 387420.10.1177/030631289019003001Google Scholar
Steiner, G., & Posch, A. (2006). Higher education for sustainability by means of transdisciplinary case studies: An innovative approach for solving complex, real-world problems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 14(9–11), 877890.Google Scholar
Thomas, J., & Benn, S. (2009). Education about and for sustainability in Australian Business Schools Stage 3. North Ryde, NSW: Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.Google Scholar
Tilbury, D. (2004). Environmental education and sustainability: A force for change in higher education. In Corcoran, P. & Wals, A. (Eds.), Higher education and the challenge of sustainability (Pt. 2, pp. 97112). New York: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Tilbury, D., Crawley, C., & Berry, F. (2005). Education about and for sustainability in Australian Business Schools. Sydney: Australian Research Institute in Education for Sustainability (ARIES) and Arup Sustainability for the Australian Government Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts.Google Scholar
Tilbury, D., & Wortman, D. (2004). Engaging people in sustainability. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.Google Scholar
Van de Ven, A. H. (1993). A community perspective on the emergence of innovations. Journal of Engineering and Technology Management, 10, 2351.Google Scholar
Van de Ven, A. H., & Angle, H. L. (1989). An introduction to the Minnesota innovation research program. In Van de Ven, A. H., Angle, H. L., & Poole, M. S. (Eds.), Research on the management of innovation (pp. 125170). New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Van de Ven, A. H., & Angle, H. L. (2000). Research on the management of innovation: The Minnesota studies. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Yin, R. (2003). Case study research. Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar